There is no question for me that Tom Corbett should not be reelected in this race. He has decimated public education and refused Medicaid coverage for hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians. Even more concerning is his apparent lack of empathy for people and his dubious choices for people to help him govern.  There are many examples of this – when asked about the ultrasound part of his ‘health’ legislation for women and it was suggested that that procedure would be invasive, he said, “You just have to close your eyes.” When asked about marriage of same sex couples he thought a good analogy for that was marriage between a brother and a sister. In choosing his Department of Health director (he chose Mr. Avila), he chose a man who freaked out over a fried egg.

So, the Democrats must have the answer, right? I think that may be so, but there are some troubling things there too. How about the ten million dollar man, Tom Wolf, who loaned himself the money?  According to newspaper accounts he arranged that transaction by re-forming his company and in that process he closed the lumber yards he had and laid off those workers. His ads tell me that he has profit shared his company’s wealth with his workers and any company owner who does that is to be commended,  but if he laid off workers, then he must have had fewer workers to share profits with. I would like to know more about that issue.

                The other Democrats were chugging along and I was paying attention until I saw a story in the Inquirer in the last few days. That story quoted the household income for each candidate – the lowest income was cited as $333,000!!! The Pennsylvania median household income in 2012 is $51, 230. This information was alarming. I have known many working class people who are intelligent and possess sparkling integrity. Are they capable of governing a state? I would like to see that scenario played out.  My father and grandfather never earned more than a yearly salary in four figures, yet they served their community, with skill and integrity, and never profited from that work. I realize that I may be thought of as naïve, but I find it disconcerting that people who claim modest roots (the candidates) have somewhere along the continuum of their adult lives, become extremely prosperous. It seems that somewhere along that path they must have suppressed the aim of helping others, and began to think of their own financial situations as paramount.

I am not suggesting that people should not provide for themselves and their families, but I do wonder what the world would be like if our elected officials came from that group of honest and hardworking people who are represented by that median Pennsylvania income of $51,230.